The present invention relates generally to a CT scanner including a camera located on a gantry that captures photographic external images of a patient to generate a three dimensional external image of the patient.
A CT scanner takes a plurality of x-ray images of a patient to create a three dimensional CT image. A prior art CT scanner system includes a plurality of cameras that take external images of the patient. The cameras are each at a fixed location and do not move during the CT scan. A computer generates a three dimensional external image from the external images taken by the cameras. The three dimensional external image can then be associated with the three dimensional CT image. A drawback to the prior CT scanner is that several cameras are needed to generate the three dimensional photographic image. Additionally, the cameras are difficult to use.